Vassar College Faces Equal Pay Lawsuit

Vassar College, a liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and one of the first institutions of higher learning for women in the United States, has systematically paid its female full professors less than their male counterparts for the past two decades, according to a recent federal lawsuit. The suit, filed last month by five former or current tenured faculty members contains allegations of unequal pay, delayed promotions for female professors and a discriminatory performance-evaluation system.

The suit’s plaintiffs cite salary data released by the college, which they say shows Vassar administrators have known about the pay gap for years. According to the suit, in the 2003-04 academic year, female full professors earned about 7 percent, or $7,770, less on average than their male counterparts, according to the data, which was published in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The gap has widened since, the data shows. During the 2021-2022 academic year, male full professors earned $153,238 on average — about 10 percent, or $13,900, more than women of the same academic rank. Because women are often hired at lower salaries, and raises are usually given as a percentage increase, the disparity has been most pronounced among the longest-serving professors, the suit says.

Vassar officials have not disputed the data but say the disparities are tied to differences in seniority, academic discipline and peer evaluations.

According to the New York Times, the gender pay gap at Vassar is smaller than average in academia. The Times cited data from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) that shows that female professors in the U.S. earn almost 18 percent less than their male counterparts.